He was born in Shumen, where a village now bears his given name[2] in a craftsman family. Originally, he was taught in his native town by Sava Dobroplodni and Sava Filaretov, but afterwards attended the Odessa Seminary. He was influenced by the revolutionary Georgi Sava Rakovski and joined Rakovski's First Bulgarian Legion in Belgrade in 1861, where he distinguished himself in the fight against the Turkish garrison. Drumev kept close ties with Vasil Levski, Stefan Karadzha and some other Bulgarian revolutionaries.